Room 517-C | Research on Sexual Offenders Monday, July 11, 2005 Time: 2:30 PM-4:30 PM |
Psychopathy: In-Treatment Change and Recidivism with Sexual Offenders.
Abracen, Jeffrey*,1, Looman, Jan2, 1 Correctional Service of Canada, Toronto, Ontario, Canada2 Regional Treatment Centre, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
ABSTRACT- Seto & Barbaree (1999) investigated the association between psychopathy, treatment behaviour and sex offender recidivism. Ratings of treatment behaviour were found to be unrelated to parole failure or general recidivism and were associated with higher rates of serious recidivism defined as a new violent or sexual offence. The authors observed that men who both scored higher on treatment behaviour (i.e. those who were rated as performing better in group) and who were assessed as having higher Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) scores were the most likely to reoffend. The authors note that these findings "reinforce concerns that have been expressed about the involvement of psychopaths in treatment (p. 1245). In spite of the positive aspects of this study, there are a number of potential difficulties with this investigation. Perhaps the most significant difficulty relates to the fact that very few of the subjects actually met diagnostic criteria for psychopathy (i.e., 9% of rapists, 3% of incest offenders and 3% of extrafamilial child molesters). In fact, the analyses reported by the authers were conducted using PCL-R cutoffs which were well below that suggested as being diagnostic for psychopathy (i.e. 10, 15, or 20 depending on the analysis whereas a cutoff of 25 or 30 is typically recommended). In order to both replicate and extend the findings of Seto & Barbaree, a study using a similar methodology was conducted at the Regional Treatment Centre (RTC). There are several reasons for the RTC being chosen for this investigation. The first, and perhaps most important, relates to the fact that clients attending the RTC have mean PCL-R scores well above those reported for the WSBC (approximately 23/40). With reference to the RTC sample, PCL-R data were available on 169 subjects who have completed treatment. Further 42% of these subjects had PCL-R scores above 25. Given that the average PCL-R score for the RTC sample borders on the recommended cutoff for psychopathy, this group represents a better sample on which to conduct research related to psychopathy. Second, detailed clinical reports were available on these 169 subjects who have completed the RTC sex offender program (RTCSOP). Independent raters coded treatment reports produced by the staff. As in the Seto & Barbaree study, ratings were made for change in victim empathy, understanding of the offense cycle and quality of the relapse prevention plan. These ratings were made on four point scales. A global rating of treatment performance was also made. Results will be discussed in terms of the theoretical literature related to psychopathy. In specific, the present investigation found that there may be a sub-group of high PCL-R clients who are amenable to treatment and who recidivate at rates which are non-significantly different than low PCL-R subjects. These findings were reinforced by the global ratings of risk reduction made by treatment staff. Ratings of decreased risk made by treatment staff familiar with both the client's participation in an intensive 6-month inpatient based program (the RTC program) as well as the client's scores on actuarial risk assessment measures were able to predict which clients, in fact, posed a lower risk of recidivism based on subsequent reconviction data.
Key words: sexual offenders, psychopathy, treatment, recidivism